Cardienscarf

Me neither.

mikelincs

There are plenty of places in the UK where your cat MUST be an indoor one, most of the apartment blocks for example, even if you live on the ground floor. We are cujrrently looking into the logistics of getting a cat, and it will have to be indoors as we live on the first floor,(for those in the US that would be second floor).

Editha

Get an old cat or a blind or disabled cat. Being indoors is more suitable for them, and less trouble for you because it won't keep trying to escape. The RSPCA did have a scheme for helping out with the vets bills for elderly cats, I can't see it up on their sit now but it would be worth enquiring about.

mikelincs

Yes, we are looking for an older cat, have been offered a kitten, but really don't want to go through that phase again..

chris955

We bought our dog back with us and he settled in very quickly, he stayed with some friends for a month or so but once webought our house and he came home it was as though he had always been here. He seems to prefer the cooler temperatures here, he would often spend all day sprawled out on the tile floor in Brisbane. He even seems to like the snow. Like people they are all different with different personalities.

slimeyc

Our dog loved being back in the U after four years in the sandpit. Poor thing really did not have a great life there and I wouldn't recommend anyone taking their dogs to be honest. Nothing like big open fields and wild birds to chase

jemima55

I'm just guessing that as they couldn't visit all the prospective homes they were being "better safe than sorry".
Anyway, the cats had long happy lives and one is still with us at the age of 16!

J.JsOH

Our cat has been back in UK for 3 years now, and we had him in US 3 yrs before we moved back. He had been a stray kitten, living rough outdoors, that chose to live with us.
In USA we lived on housing estate as we do now in UK and Charlie seems mostly happy enough here. It is impossible to keep him indoors all the time and when we tried he drives himself and us crazy.
There are more cats adjacent here in UK and so he does have a reduced territory and the usual constant territorial conflicts.
We've had a couple scares of him missing, locked in neighbour's garage and garden shed and released the next day

As I sit here we are mightily relieved for he had been unusually missing for the past 24 hours and had been restless prior to that with a new cat nearby. We had searched around the nearby streets and were facing horrible prospect that he disappeared - and then looking out window June saw him sitting in the bedroom window of house opposite. We knew they had gone on holiday but that was the day before Charlie went missing. Apparently the rascal had got into the house through an unsecured cat flap and couldn't find his way out again - dummy. We called through the flap and he found his way. If we hadn't seen him he could have been lost in there for 2 weeks until the owners returned - thank heavens he had the sense to sit in the window looking towards our house (although not the sense to find his way out of a unfamiliar cat flap)

jemima55

I can picture it all! What a great story, glad it had a happy end!

ElizabethK

You know, the expression "curiosity killed the cat" is very true

RJB123

We bought our two dogs and cat back to the UK a few days ago. They have all settled very quickly. Having come from the Middle East it was a massive change for all of them. The dogs love being outside and our Golden Retriever is enjoying swimming in the local stream. The cat is an indoor cat and seemed to be totally at home in his new environment within 24 hours of arriving. Their age possibly helps as the oldest is only 2 years old.

ElizabethK

Well, finally my two cats and dog arrived at their new home at 10:30pm UK time on Sunday 13th July.
According to my husband who is there already, the cats walked out of their crates like they owned the place and have been rubbing their cheeks/whiskers (where their scent glands are I expect) on anything and everything. They are both investigating the place and are chirping and purring away quite happily.

The poor dog, bless her, although very happy to see my husband took a big poo right in front of the house and immediately needed to have her bum washed because (without going into too much gory detail) most of it had stuck to her fur
So, due to the probable undignified bum washing which she's never happy about anyway, she was somewhat upset and just looked like a sad sack when I saw her on Skype earlier However, she's now curled up on her blanket with a clean bum and from all accounts is sleeping soundly at the foot of the bed.

The relief I feel now from not having to worry about all the health certs and everything else that goes with shipping the pets is wonderful. I must have printed out a whole trees worth of copies of absolutely everything and now I can throw them all away, yay

The one problem in all of this which was not my fault. . . the vet did not administer the correct tapeworm treatment required by DEFRA. I told her 4 times during the consultation that it must contain the product praziquantel and she confirmed that it did (my guess is she thought that she knew better and what she administered was just as good and wouldn't be noticed when the UK side read the paperwork) Well, she was wrong and they did pick up on it and therefore all the animals had to remain in the animal reception centre for a further 24 hours so that the dog could get the correct drug and only then would they release her from quarantine.
I will be calling the vet in the morning to request a refund.

ElizabethK

My husband got the plug in Feliway product online and plugged it in before the cats arrived. It's possible it helped, we'll never know

I wonder what's in it though, I must look at the ingredients

Cardienscarf

Great news! This was definitely the most stressful part of the whole move for me. Once I knew the dog was safe and in good hands, I was able to get on with everything else and enjoy my last few weeks.

salgb

I moved my cat from US (CA) to UK. It has taken her over a year to fully relax in the house. She is still very timid outside, more so than before. If anyone comes to the front door she bolts upstairs and hides. She also seems to get really nervous when she hears a a loud truck drive by, or a truck back up and it makes the 'beep, beep, beep' warning noise. I'm thinking these were sounds she heard at the airport? As for neighbourhood cats - there are 5 that come in her garden. She is older, and usually hisses loudly but then retreats. I'm guessing male or younger cats may be more apt to fight to control their territory. Good luck!